Docent in Training - More Interpretations

Well Hello,

I am a week late writing this blog and should be ashamed, but, the world did not stop on its axis so I assume all is ok. Last weeks class was more interpretations with the addition of transitions from one piece to another by our docent interns. I bowed out as I was not prepared. It was much to the disappointment of the class as they wanted to see if I could once again walk on my tongue while talking. I will not be so fortunate to escape on the 31st class as we will be having to do interpretations with our mentors. It really should be fun and Subie (my mentor) is so wonderful I know it will be most beneficial to me.

In the meantime, this weeks presenters once again did a stellar job. They included:

Pat presenting  Diana by Agustus Saint-Gaudens. This 126-year-old, 7-foot cement and plaster statue of Diana, in Roman mythology, goddess of the moon and the hunt, was a gift from Saint-Gaudens to the renowned architect Stanford White. It stayed in the garden on White's estate for 30 years and in the 1980s was purchased by the ACMAA ending up in the basement.  Curator Maggie Adler was at the forefront of getting the statue restored under the guidance of Adam Jenkins and Diana is now once again in her glory. Word of note, this statue never had a bow with or an arrow and I learned the difference between concrete and cement. Write up of the ACMAA work on Diana can be found here Amon Carter Museum and Diana

Diana - 1894

There have been rumors that the model was the mistress of Stanford White, however, she was born in 1884 and not old enough to be the model or mistress when Diana was created. There is a movie about the rumor "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" starring none other than the beautiful Joan Collins. You can read more about the original Diana here Diana.

Augustas Saint-Gaudens - 1848-1907

Augustas Saint-Gaudens was born in France but was brought to America as a baby. We are truly a nation of immigrants. 

Sunrise, Yosemite Valley - 1870
Albert Bierstadt - 1830-1902

Julie interpreted Albert Bierstadt's painting Sunrise, Yosemite Valley, shown above. This painting's luminous appearance cannot be done justice on a computer screen. Bierstadt was born in Europe and again was brought to this county at a very early age. He loved the Rockies and took every opportunity to go there. His paintings were very large and so wonderfully bright. The majesty of the Rockies is evident throughout.

Bill interpreted Thomas Cole's The Hunters Return. Again you can see the wonderful use of light in this work. The story in Bierstadt's Yellowstone painting is the beauty of nature, but the story in Cole's Hunter's painting is a happy family greeting the hunters who are saddled with a heavy load of meat. There is a garden and one knows the food will be put by for the winter that will be coming soon by the looks of the trees. Cole was also concerned with the destruction of the forest by settlers. Both Cole and Bierstadt were part of the Hudson River School.

The Hunter's Return - 1845
Thomas Cole - 1841-1848

Beth gave a wonderful interpretation of three paintings that were created in a span of 100 years by three different artists. You will see in these paintings how art changed during that span of time.

Up first is Raphaelle Peale's Peaches and Grapes in a Chinese Basket. Peale was from an artist family and painted in trompe l'oeil. He was the first American still life painter as his family did portraits.  Portrait below of Raphaelle was Charles Wilson Peale.

Raphaelle Peale - 1774-1825

Find out more about Raphaelle here Raphaelle Peale.

Next is Still Life of Flowers and Fruit With a River Landscape in the Distance by Severin Roesen.  This rather large painting with a rather large title was a recurring theme for Roesen an immigrant from Germany.  His attention to detail combined with his exceptional skill makes this painting a joy to stand and study. The flowers, of course, would not all be in bloom at the same time. The beer glass is a nod from Roesen to his favorite beverage.

Still Life of Flowers and Fruit With a River Landscape in the Distance - 1867

Severin Roesen - 1816-1872

Last in Beth's presentation is The Lobster by Arthur Dove shown below. Arthur was considered America's first abstract painter.

I will go out on a limb here and say I find The Lobster to be more impressionist than abstract so please let me know (politely) if you disagree. More about abstract art here what is abstract art? and impressionist art here What is impressionism?

The Lobster - 1908

Arthur Dove - 1880-1946

No matter the style during a tour with Subie one of the guests announced that "the lobster looked drunk." Arthur was part of the Stieglitz group and was friends with Charles Demuth and Georgia O'Keeffe. He was expected to have a profession that would achieve wealth by his parents but chose art instead. He was a commercial illustrator early in his career. You can find out more about this interesting person here More about Dove .

And there you have it. 100 years of art in three paintings by three different artists. Thank you Beth.




The last two interpretations were done by Katherine and Susie and included two sculptures and one painting. To keep this post as short as I like to I will not include their presentations, but, trust me they were outstanding. Thank you, ladies.

Time to publish this piece or I will be in next weeks class.

Until next time,

Caroline

Docent in Training - Our Mentors

Hello again,

This weeks meeting was really exciting as we met our mentors. Some of the active docents have given their time to help us become ready to guide interested parties through the museum. After meeting them the mentors gave us some object interpretations and believe me it was most interesting. As I mentioned last week I stepped on my own tongue during my object interpretation, so, it was great to see how it really should be done.

I will list three of them. I have not yet asked permission to use names in this blog so will not name who gave which presentation. If I did not use your example and you read this blog, my apologies, it was not your interpretation just my need to conserve space. The point of tonight's exercise was to show different ways to interpret objects on our tours.

First was a brief talk about the museum itself including the Henry Moore sculpture in the front of the museum.

Henry Moore Sculpture

 Here is a picture of the sculpture. It exhibits all of Moore's strong, solid artistic ability.

Alexander Calder Study

Inside of the museum is the Alexander Calder study that was considered but not used. A beautiful piece and in my opinion, it displays Calder's playfulness.






















When viewing the very large Remington work Dash for the Timber we were asked what sounds would we hear if it was possible to hear the painting. Answers were horses' hoofs, Indians yelling, guns firing, pans clattering. We were then asked to emulate these sounds as a group. Imagine the fun of a bunch of adults making loud sounds. This is a great way to get people to really look at an action painting.

Dash for the Timber - 1889 Frederic Remington

 Another way to have people look at art is to do a comparison between two objects. The works, of course, need to be close enough to each other for a comparison. The active docent doing this interpretation chose two excellent examples.

Attention Company! - 1878 William Harnett

Attention Company! is one of William Harnett's few portraits. He was a trompe l'loeil (fool the eye) painter and mostly painted still lifes. He was an Irish-American painter and was born in County Cork Ireland during the time of the potato famine.

Woman Standing - 1878-1879 Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt was an impressionist painter from Pennsylvania that was befriended by Edgar Degas upon moving to Paris, where she spent the rest of her life. She exhibited with other impressionist painters and is best known for her women and children works.

We were asked to compare the two works for differences in the subjects. Notice I said subjects because it is obvious they are painted in two different styles. Two of the answers were: the young man is gazing out intently at you where the woman seems to be unaware she is being observed. The young man is poor as shown by his clothes where the woman is one of privilege, again as shown by her clothes. This is just another way to get people to really look at the painting. Perhaps you can also see differences in the subjects.

Our next class is not until Jan 3, 2019, and will be on 20th-century photography.

Until then,

Caroline